Suspected ISWAP militants kill dozens of Nigerian troops in assault on Borno army base

At least 20 Nigerian soldiers, including a commanding officer, have been reportedly killed as suspected Islamist militants targeted an army base in the remote Malam-Fatori town in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state.
The attack that is believed to have been carried out by fighters from the ISIL-affiliate in West Africa Province (ISWAP) occurred on Friday (24 January) and lasted for more than three hours with ‘bullets raining everywhere,’ according to surviving soldiers. When the ISWAP fighters reportedly arrived on gun trucks and attacked the army’s 149 Battalion, “we tried so much to repel the attacks and after more than three hours of gun duel, they overpowered us, killing our commanding officer, a lieutenant colonel,” said one soldier who survived the attack.
ISWAP and Boko Haram fighters have mainly operated in Borno state, targeting both security forces and civilians, killing and displacing tens of thousands of people. While weakened by military counter-offensive and internal fighting in recent years, both Boko Haram and ISWAP have stepped up their attacks in the region in the past few weeks, killing dozens of farmers and fishermen in a series of raids. The 15-year-long conflict has claimed nearly 40,000 lives and displaced around two million people. The violence has also spilled into neighboring Niger, Chad, and Cameroon, prompting the formation of a regional military force to combat both insurgent groups.